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Have Your Say on the Future of Grocery Unit Pricing

18th of December 2018

The future of the regulation that requires large supermarkets to provide the unit price (price per unit of measure – such as per 100g and per litre) on shelf labels, etc. for packaged grocery items is being reviewed by the federal government.

The review will determine whether the regulation should continue, and if so whether it should be changed.

The review includes a short online survey which allows consumers to give their views on the present system and what they want in the future.

Consumer advocate, and COTA member, Ian Jarratt OAM lead the campaign that resulted in the start of compulsory grocery unit pricing in 2009.

Ian says “Consumers spend around $100 billion a year on groceries and many use unit prices to get better value for money. However, there are many problems with the present system, such as many unit prices being too difficult to notice and read. So, if you care about whether compulsory grocery unit pricing will continue, and if it does how it can be improved, you should complete the online survey.”

Ian also hopes that consumers will use the survey to let the government know that the minimum size of shop required to provide grocery unit pricing should be much lower than the current 1000 sq metres, and that other types of retailers, such as chemists (for non- prescription items) and hardware stores, should also be required to provide unit pricing.